Don't Be Cruel - Photography 139

Time to reveal the August image for the 2025 Photography 139 Calendar:

August

TECHNICAL DETAILS

CAMERA: Sony 7M4
LENS: Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 DG DN
FOCAL LENGTH: 16mm
APERTURE: f/5.6
SHUTTER SPEED: 1/3200
ISO: 160
DATE: July 29, 2024

I took this picture just south of US30. A little east of Ogden. Next to the Harrier Marsh. A sunflower patch was planted out there. I wandered around it with a very wide angle lens because I mostly was looking to capture an image of a lot of sunflowers in the field. But after looking at the images, this ending up being my favorite. Catching a glint of the sun as it was starting to descend in the western sky. I remember as I was beginning to leave the sunflower patch a mom with several teenage girls pulled up to take selfies in the sunflower patch.

Here are the people that picked August as their favorite image:

Becky

Elizabeth

Melissa

Michelle

I’m excited to share the September image tomorrow!

+++++++

You know I can be found
Sitting home all alone
If you can’t come around
At least please telephone
Don’t be cruel to a heart that’s true

Baby, if I made you mad
For something I might have said
Please, let’s forget my past
The future looks bright ahead
Don’t be cruel to a heart that’s true
I don’t want no other love
Baby it’s just you I’m thinking of, mmh

Don’t stop thinking of me
Don’t make me feel this way
Come on over here and love me
You know what I want you to say
Don’t be cruel to a heart that’s true
Why should we be apart?
I really love you baby, cross my heart

Let’s walk up to the preacher
And let us say I do
Then you’ll know you’ll have me
And I’ll know that I’ll have you
Don’t be cruel to a heart that’s true
I don’t want no other love
Baby it’s just you I’m thinking of

Don’t be cruel to a heart that’s true
Don’t be cruel to a heart that’s true
I don’t want no other love
Baby it’s just you I’m thinking of
-Written by Elvis Presley and Otis Blackwell
-Performed by Elvis Presley

Yesterday was Elvis’ 90th birthday, so it seems apropos that I pick one of his great love songs.

An interesting story is the song was almost 100% written by Otis Blackwell. But here is some info on how Elvis got a writing credit from The Wiki:

“Don’t Be Cruel” was the first song that Presley’s song publishers, Hill & Range, brought to him to record. Blackwell was more than happy to give up 50% of the royalties and a co-writing credit to Presley to ensure that the “hottest new singer around covered it”. But unfortunately he had already sold the song for only $25 ($289 in 2024), as he stated in an interview of American Songwriter.

Freddy Bienstock, Presley’s music publisher, gave the following explanation for why Presley received co-writing credit for songs like “Don’t Be Cruel”. “In the early days Elvis would show dissatisfaction with some lines and he would make alterations, so it wasn’t just what is known as a ‘cut-in’. His name did not appear after the first year. But if Presley liked the song, the writers would be offered a guarantee of a million records and they would surrender a third of their royalties to Elvis’.”

Presley recorded the song on July 2, 1956, during an exhaustive recording session at RCA Victor Studios in New York City.[1] During this session he also recorded “Hound Dog”, and “Any Way You Want Me”. The song featured Presley’s band of Scotty Moore on lead guitar (with Presley usually providing rhythm guitar), Bill Black on double bass, D. J. Fontana on drums, Shorty Long on piano, and backing vocals from the Jordanaires. The producing credit was given to RCA’s Stephen H. Sholes, although the studio recordings reveal that Presley produced the songs in this session by selecting the song, reworking the arrangement on piano, and insisting on 28 takes before he was satisfied with it. He also ran through 31 takes of “Hound Dog”.

“Don’t Be Cruel” was the B Side for “Hound Dog”. Amazing.

Happy birthday Elvis and I hope you know a little more about one of the greatest songwriters of the 1950s, Otis Blackwell.

But Thursdays are for flowers. This flowertography session took place in my yard.